Department Of Higher Education Research Articles

Reframing listening for belonging and participation in early childhood care and education settings: a case in South Africa

ABSTRACT This study is part of larger South African project funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training and EU which focused on how practitioners listen to young children in early childhood care and education to encourage a sense of belonging and participation. The study was conducted at two early childhood care and education centres, one advantaged and one disadvantaged, where practitioners were interviewed about their views and experiences of listening to children. Data were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The study found that practitioners were keenly aware of the importance of listening to young children, thereby democratising pedagogical spaces and validating children’s right to participate. Their views highlighted the link between listening and encouraging a sense of belonging. Furthermore, listening with regard to being relational, responsive and encouraging agency were viewed as tools to support and encourage belonging. The study also highlights the complexity of asserting children’s voices in pedagogical spaces (due to factors related to time and curriculum constraints).

Privatization of Higher Education and Excellence Without Soul

Privatization of education in both developed and developing countries over the last century has registered a positive trend in the field of education. With the rise of capitalism and privatization of higher education by the government of Uganda, there is an increasing attempt to privatize public services, including education, so that citizens will have to buy them at market value rather than have them provided by the government. The department of higher education in Uganda concentrates strongly on the role of education in servicing the economy through taxation to the neglect of its social and developmental responsibilities. The vision of the university as a place for the education of the elite and for elite education has had a powerful historical precedent in Plato’s Academy. To what extent the Platonic view of education still dominates our thinking about the role and purposes of universities is arguable. Commercialization is normalized and its operational values and purposes have been encoded in the systems of all types of universities. Correlatively, what is happening in the universities is that they are being asked to produce commercially oriented professionals rather than public-interest professionals. While this may seem like merely a change in form rather than substance, the danger with this advancing marketised individualism is that it will further weaken public interest values among those who are being educated in private universities. In this paper, the writer presents an examination on the impact of privatization of higher education on the original purpose and values of education to the individual, the society and the Ugandan nation as a whole hence promoting privatization of higher education and excellence without soul.

A campus start-up ecosystem for mechanical engineering students: Challenges, approaches, catalysts and solutions

Start-up ecosystems are emerging rapidly worldwide. The speed of technology innovation and the diversity of business ideas keep the start-up landscape in constant flux. While many emerging start-ups are in the areas of electronics and information sciences, the field of mechanical engineering has huge potential that has yet to be exploited. Today’s mechanical engineering students need to be well positioned to recognize and seize potential start-up opportunities. This study examines the involvement of Indian mechanical engineering students in campus start-ups and the challenges they face in nascent entrepreneurship. Structural equation modelling was applied to a sample of 396 final-year undergraduate mechanical engineering students from the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Kerala. Data collection was achieved through a questionnaire developed on the basis of existing literature, feedback and market research. The findings highlight the currently prevailing barriers and best practices, and recommendations are derived for leveraging the nascent entrepreneurship potential of the mechanical engineering discipline. The negative effects of the barriers are positively moderated by the activities of campus-based entrepreneurship centres. The study results provide insights into the role of universities, higher education departments and government agencies in promoting a sustainable campus start-up culture through entrepreneurial learning.

Improvement of Educational Quality: Bridging The Total Quality Management to Map Students’ Life Skills at Polytechnic of Health-Ministry

This research was conducted to obtain a description that the Life Skill-Based Academic Service which is formulated based on the results of the evaluation can improve students’ life skills of Higher Education Department of Dental Nursing Polytechnic of health-ministry, Ministry of Health, Tasikmalaya and Bandung. The profile of academic service quality for Dental Nursing at Polytechnic of health-ministry, Ministry of Health, Tasikmalaya and Bandung, has not fully focused on improving life skills more thoroughly including life skills for the business world. Improvement and development of life skills through a number of learning activities, work practices and graduates who are ready to compete in the world of work. Leadership policy in implementing life skill-based academic service quality, oriented to the world of work. The formulation of policies for quality assurance is an elaboration of the vision and mission in order to produce graduates who are competent in the world of work. There is no policy evaluation specifically related to life skills. Evaluation is carried out on the output in the form of graduate and student user satisfaction with the service system. The Total Quality Management (TQM) system for service quality / academic life skill-based management has not been fully supported by the 10 main elements of TQM, especially the scientific approach. Planning focuses on main customers with internal customer support. Quality improvement is carried out by involving quality assurance units, structural and staff as team work. The improvement of the TQM system focuses on providing educational services oriented to the world of work.

Academic Or Functional Skills? Using Enterpreneurship To Determine Students’ Output At Polytechnic Of Health-Ministry

The purpose of this research is to reveal various theoretical foundations and their implementation in the field, including those related to the following, namely obtaining understanding and analyzing the implementation of life skill-based academic service quality management evaluation activities in the Department of Dental Nursing, Health Polytechnic of the Ministry of Health, Tasikmalaya and Bandung in improving quality of education. Based on the results of the study, it was found that the Quality Mode l Life Skill-Based Academic Service which was formulated based on the evaluation results using the CIPP model can improve entrepreneurial behavior of graduates of Higher Education Department of Dental Nursing, Health Polytechnic of the Ministry of Health, Tasikmalaya and Bandung. The model is designed based on a philosophical foundation that supports administration with an interdisciplinary theory to ensure that the model can solve the problem of the lack of entrepreneurial behavior in Dental Nursing Department graduates. The model is formulated based on rational arguments for the probability of success and the logical choice to apply the model with the best chance of achievement. The implementation model helps organize the academic service process better in an effort to achieve quality and output in the form of changes in entrepreneurial behavior that are indicated to be proactive, innovative, dare to take risks to be more effectively achieved.

Transitioning through management change: The experiences of community learning centre educators

Background: When Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs) were transferred to the Department of Higher Education and Training and renamed as Community Learning Centres (CLCs), educators increasingly experienced insecurity about the continuity and stability of their employment.Objective: This article, which aimed to address this gap, presented a multiple case study design within an interpretivist paradigm. Drawing on Kurt Lewin’s three-stage theory as an underpinning theoretical framework, we explored the educators’ experiences and the effects of the transitioning.Method: Data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 6 African male teachers between the ages of 35 and 50 years.Results: Our findings suggested that educators became anxious and insecure regarding their jobs. They became aggrieved because they were not consulted on or communicated with regarding the transitioning and management change in the CLCs. Educators experienced dissatisfaction, disillusionment, stress, confusion and depression and feared for the loss of their jobs because of the change in work environment and management.Conclusion: Recommendations that the Departments of Education should ensure that employees have a sound knowledge and understanding of the issues of transition and change management were implied. Consultation, communication, training and development should have been planned for all educators affected by the transitioning to avoid stress and anxiety amongst employees.

Unveiling the professional attributes of university teachers

This article derives from a collaborative higher education project, conceptualised, and implemented by academics from seven South African universities. These academics are members of the South African Teaching Advancement at University (TAU) Fellowship. The project has its roots in the Department of Higher Education’s National Framework for Enhancing Academics as University Teachers, which identifies six leverage points or ‘imperatives for action’, one of which is the imperative to develop expectations (attributes) of academics in their role as university teachers. TAU Fellows engaged in the collaborative enquiry over a period of three years, appropriating a conceptual framework posited by Henry Giroux, of teachers as transformative intellectuals. In this article, each author reflects on his/her own scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) endeavours, which provided the conceptual tools to illuminate what for them and the group, are valuable professional attributes. The metaphor of the Baobab tree is appropriated to signify ‘rhizomatic thinking’, which portrays teaching as subconscious, subversive, non-linear, multi-directional, serendipitous, esoteric, dynamic, unbounded, unpredictable, adaptive, and non-hierarchical. This SoTL enquiry enabled the TAU group to unveil and declare their professional attributes as they made public their praxis. The attributes include academics as imbued with the capacity for critical thinking and actively promoting critical thinking amongst their students; as active learning mediators; as responsive, innovative, and relevant curriculum designers; and as engaged professionals. Appreciation of the article is enhanced when the reader first views this video https://youtu.be/yoA9guMut-8.

The acceptance of mLearning amongst the suburban college students: A micro-level study in North 24 Pargana of West Bengla

The revolution of mobile phones is not merely limited to calling or texting; it has reached almost every sphere of humankind. In this 21st century, studies have claimed that mobile phones' accessibility is comparatively higher than the toilet. Nearly 6 billion people worldwide now are accessing a working mobile handset (UNESCO, 2014). The ubiquitous use of mobile phones brings mobility to its users and helps them accept this ICT based technology worldwide. This new technology of communication also has a remarkable contribution to the educational sector. Its real-time communication makes learning effortless and congenial to the potential learners. This study will explore mobile-based learning technology among the higher education aspirants of suburban colleges in North 24parganas of West Bengal. Suburban students are not getting the same facilitates as metro city students. Besides that, suburban culture and social taboos sometimes make problems to use or access mobile phones by students. However, this will not be focused on the comparison between metro city students and suburban students. Moreover, this study will focus on the usage of mobile phones among suburban college students and to what extent these students are comfortable with the mobile learning method. M-learning or mobile-based learning is "learning across multiple contexts, through social and content interactions, using personal electronic devices" (M-Learning: Revision History - Wikipedia, 2020). The benefits of mLearning not only accepted by the students and educational institutions also the Indian higher education departments now have concentrated on this technology for its mass availability, user-friendly access, instantaneous sharing capacity, personalized uses, and Running connectivity. In the future, the limitations and barriers of learning can be overcome through mLearning technology.

Nurturing research capacity among emerging academics through mentoring : reflections from a pilot at a historically disadvantaged South African university

The need to develop the next generation of academics to replace the aging professorate in South Africa has been on the agenda of the departments of higher education and training for some time, gaining momentum in recent years. The Higher Education South Africa (HESA)'s Publication on the National Programme to Develop the Next Generation of Academics for South African Higher Education (2011) paints a dire situation for the higher education industry with regards to the attraction and retention of academic staff. Key challenges identified in the report include the aging profile of academics, poor remuneration of academics, the current postgraduate pipeline and expansion of the higher education sector. Using the Communities of Practice (CoPs) theoretical framework, this paper unpacks an initiative by a professor at a South African university to develop research capacity among emerging academics through a collaborative mentorship programme with five emerging academics. The major findings of the study include, among other things, development of the mentees identity as both academics and researchers, a boost in the mentees research profiles and the development of a community of practice. The study recommends that supervisors and promoters should be supported financially by historically disadvantaged institutions or the National Research Foundation to mentor and nurture emerging academics from historically disadvantaged backgrounds and that such mentorship initiatives be formalised and incentivised as a token of appreciation for both mentors and mentees.

An exploration of workplace learning of centre managers and educators in South African Adult Education and Training centres

Workplace learning is a critical aspect of both continuing professional education and human resource development. However, often providers, scholars and even the learners themselves pay little attention to the learning that actually happens in the workplace. The study sought to obtain insights into workplace learning of Adult Education and Training, centre managers and educators. Qualitative data generated through interviews and focus group discussions with 62 conveniently selected educators and centre managers in 18 Adult Education and Training centres were thematically analysed through a seven-step process. Educator workplace learning emerged around judgement, decision-making and problem solving, awareness and understanding, role and task performance and team work and passion. Data also indicated that the learning was tacit, surface, context-rooted and consequential to managing crises in the Adult Education and Training centres. The study recommends adequate resource provisioning to this sector by the Department of Higher Education and Training to promote deep learning-in-practice and to minimise the surface learning in crisis management that is prevalent in the centres. Adult Education and Training has to fulfil its mandate of contributing to economic development and transformation of broader society; however, without resource supports, this crucial role will remain a dream, which may force educators into paying lip-service to the work of educating adults.

Submitting and tracking SADJ manuscripts to be facilitated by manuscript management systems - A professional development bulletin

The South African Dental Journal (SADJ) keeps you abreast of the latest developments in dentistry, and is the only Department of Higher Education and Training accredited scientific dental journal in South Africa for publication of scientific papers, clinical articles, current dento-political information and opinion, and trade information. Members are also able to attain their CDP points by completing the online questionnaires.
 All SADJ online CPD Questionnaires are valid for a two-year period from the date of online publication. If you are not able to load the questionnaire to your courses it may be as a result of expiry.

Exploring Transformational Leadership Practices and Teachers' Job Performance in Higher Education Department

The primary purpose of this particular research was to explore the transformational leadership practices and level of the job performance of physical education teachers in the higher education department, Punjab, Pakistan. Two hypotheses were formulated to explore study objectives. Descriptive research design with the survey approach and quantitative method was adopted. The study population consisted of 296 male and 266 female physical education teachers. Overall, 76% return response rate was recorded. Frequencies and percentages and Pearson correlation coefficient were used for analyzing the collected data. The study results found a significant and moderate positive relationship between transformational leadership and job performance of physical education teachers. So, the researchers recommended that high interest of transformational leaders lead to high performance with the work of employees; therefore, they may provide maximum chances to the LPEs to indulge themselves in promoting sports activities with the positive collaboration leaders.

PRODUÇÃO DE UMA VIDEONOVELA SOBRE A CRIAÇÃO DE MONOGRAFIAS EM LIBRAS PARA ALUNOS DE PEDAGOGIA DO INES

Este trabalho consiste em um relato e análise da experiência de produção de um material em vídeo do gênero novelístico que foi desenvolvido entre os anos 2018 e 2020 pelo grupo de pesquisa Educação, Mídias e Comunidade Surda. Este material tem como objetivo ambientar alunos do Departamento de Ensino Superior (DESU) do Instituto Nacional de Educação de Surdos (INES) na produção de suas monografias em Libras. A monografia em Libras é uma conquista da comunidade acadêmica, e principalmente das lideranças surdas que lutaram e conquistaram o direito de produzir como Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) suas monografias em Libras. A partir de estudos realizados no ano de 2017 e 2018 sobre características visuais, gêneros e tipologias catalogadas durante todo o ano e pesquisas feitas a partir dessa coleta de dados, concluiu-se que o gênero de vídeo que melhor se adequaria para a produção deste material é o gênero novelístico, tendo em vista que é o que mais se encaixa didaticamente com os objetivos dessa produção. A intenção desta ação foi relatar a construção de uma forma de acesso aos processos de elaboração de monografias, em Libras, que não fosse somente uma tradução direta do atual Manual de Monografia em Libras, ofertado até o momento em Língua Portuguesa.

A matching model to measure compliance between department and student

The aim of all education systems is to train students who are equipped with knowledge. In that case, that student is able to determine the most suitable profession for him/her success in education and career that are related to this profession will be higher. Studies done up to this day have been focused on finding out the factors affecting the career choice of the student, but they have not suggested any method for determining the most suitable procession. It is not possible to obtain satisfying results from a system that does not lead students to appropriate higher education departments. In this context, a student- department matching system is proposed which aims to increase the success of the education systems in our study. The department of computer engineering was dealt with as a sample department and the proposed study was examined to determine whether a student was suitable for computer engineering or. The required data was obtained with the help of the questionnaire, and then a model of successful and unsuccessful students was created. Data mining algorithms such as C4.5, C SVC, MLP, and Naïve Bayes are used during the test of the generated model. The best result was obtained by the C-SVC algorithm and the second best result by Naive Bayes. The lowest error rate achieved was 0.2700 and the highest accurate recognition rate was 73.00%.

Університетська освіта і студентський спорт: тренди та синергія

Competitive university education and the development of student sport are possiblethrough consolidation of the efforts of the executive authorities, support of the governmentagencies (ministries and institutions of higher education), active position and innovation onthe part of public organizations. Objective. Analysis of the possibilities of university educationand student sport for the human comprehensive harmonious development, the achievementof physical and spiritual perfection, the formation of patriotic feelings in citizens and a positiveinternational image of the state. Methods. Analysis of special literature, legal documents,comparison and analogy. Results. The synergies of our efforts are aimed at significant intensifying the development of student sport; creation of a physical culture and sport section at the Department of Higher Education of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, etc. Important modern trends in sectoral higher education institutions are the creation of a system ofend-to-end learning; achieving high quality of the educational process in accordance with highereducation standards, the needs of society and the labor market, innovative scientific developments and the best world standards, as well as creating conditions for members of Ukrainian national teams to effectively combine higher education and training and participation in official international competitions. One of the priorities of our work is the development of e-sports. The pandemic has significantly affected the changes of vectors in education, which has led to the improvement and accumulation of significant experience in online support of classes. Recently, the NUPESU has initiated and led the consolidation of efforts of central executive bodies in the field of education, science and sports, public organizations of scientific and physical culture and sport to achieve a synergistic effect in the training of modern personnel, development of sectoral science, sports prestige of Ukraine. Given the specifics of the higher education institution, we pay great attention to creating appropriate conditions for a combination of higher education and sports training.

The relevance of Kaizen-based work-readiness training for South African University of Technology students

Kaizen -based work-readiness training originated in Japan and is based on the ‘lean’ production methods taught in Toyota factories in Japan and abroad. Kaizen -based training is rooted in the Kaizen principles of respect for others, the elimination of waste, continuous improvement, collaboration as the key to productivity and innovation as incremental in work processes. The Employability Improvement Programme (EIP), an initiative between the South African Department of Higher Education and Training, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and South African Universities of Technology, is a Kaizen -based short training programme that was introduced in 2011 with the intention to enhance South African University of Technology students’ work-readiness. The research question guiding the study is: how could a short Kaizen -based intervention contribute to South African University of Technology students’ work-readiness? The data for the study comprise curriculum documents, teaching and learning media, video footage and interviews with participants of the Kaizen events over the period 2016–2018. The study found that the EIP supported students’ acquisition of interpersonal skills and personal dispositions towards work-readiness, but skills that were related to workplace relations in context, professional values and a sense of a broader contribution to society were largely absent. The study recommends that longer term, more integrated and better contextualised forms of training are necessary in attaining work-readiness in the complex South African work context.

What We Assess Is What We Produce: Moving Towards the Development of Skills in South African FET Colleges

ABSTRACT The focus of this study was to investigate the coherence between the needs of industry and the curriculum offered at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The context of this study was TVET colleges, which is a relatively recent sector in the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), in South Africa. There is an unacceptably high rate of unemployment in South Africa and in particular, there is a shortage of technical skills, which the TVET sector is expected to address. Concerns have been expressed about the effectiveness of these colleges in producing graduates with employability skills. This study investigated whether the assessment strategies employed in the Electrical Engineering curriculum are appropriate in preparing the students for practice. A qualitative research design was used where a sample consisting of seven Further Education and Training (FET) College graduates and three instructors (lecturers) were selected using a snowball sampling technique. Findings of this research are that the current assessment strategy used in FET colleges (written testing) does not lead to the development of employability skills in FET graduates. The proposed TVET programs are those that promote a dual assessment throughout the course that yields the technical knowledge and employability outcomes that will meet the needs of industries.

Deep Transformation toward Decoloniality in Social Work: Themes for Change in a Social Work Higher Education Program

ABSTRACT This article describes thematic outcomes of a process of engagement around deep transformation toward Decoloniality in a university social work education program. Given the gravity of working toward Decoloniality for social work education in South Africa, it was critical to theorize about this process. Current South African realities evidence ongoing structures of Coloniality and Apartheid which permeate all spheres, not least the domains of knowledge, power, and relationships in higher education. However, a narrow interpretation of Decoloniality relating only to ‘curriculum’ or ‘indigeneity’ as potential for change, is problematic. Ignoring material realities of ongoing Coloniality perpetuates the very oppressive structures it seeks to overcome and so depth transformation which engages with all levels of a social work education program is required. This article engages with thematic areas that emerged and which shaped work toward Decoloniality, among social work educators at one higher education department. These included domains for engagement with Decoloniality (theorists; pedagogy; educators; learners; content; research and discourse; context) and principles for such work (Afrika as the center; attention to power dynamics; race, class, and gender; acknowledgment of structural issues; critical conscientization and voice; Ubuntu). These thematic areas now form the basis of the new social work program at the University.

Reviewer Acknowledgements

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 8, Number 3Agboola O. Paul, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MalaysiaAna Uka, Beder University, AlbaniaAntónio Calha, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, PortugalAslan,Yasin, Sinop University, TurkeyBegoña Montero-Fleta, Universitat Politécnica de València, SpainEmilio Greco, Sapienza University of Rome, ItalyEncarnación ABAD ARENAS, National University of Distance Education (UNED), SpainHao Liu, Beijing Normal University, ChinaJehu Onyekwere Nnaji, University of Naples II,Italy and Globe Visions Network Italy, ItalyJuanita GOICOVICI, University Babeș-Bolyai of Cluj-Napoca, RomaniaK.O. Aramide, The Polytechnic Ibadan, NigeriaLaura Diaconu Maxim, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza University" of Iasi, RomaniaMei-Ling Lin, National Open University, TaiwanMickey Langlais, University of Nebraska – Kearney, USAQingzhi Huan, Peking University, ChinaRachita Shrivastava Roy, Department of Higher Education, Chhatisgarh-India, IndiaRonaldo R. Larioque, NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PhilippinesUğur DEMİRCİ, Turkish National Police, TurkeyYusramizza Md Isa, Universiti Utara Malaysia, MalaysiaZlatan Begić, University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina James YoungEditorial AssistantOn behalf of,The Editorial Board of International Journal of Social Science StudiesRedfame Publishing9450 SW Gemini Dr. #99416Beaverton, OR 97008, USAURL: http://ijsss.redfame.com

Departments and disciplinary gatekeeping: The sociolinguistics of Spanish in US academia

Abstract In his contribution, José del Valle looks at the intersection of the sociolinguistic study of Spanish in the US and the transformations of Spanish language departments in higher education. Del Valle traces the history of the institutionalization of Spanish teaching and study and its effects on linguistic research’s position within Spanish departments. Shifts in approaches to the use of language in social practice, and the growing demands on language units to act as service departments for language learners, has isolated scholars in those institutional homes from broader integration into sociolinguistic research.